Hope
by 1succumb
Summary: As Hope is getting ready for a halloween party with his friend Vanille his entire world gets thrown upside down in a matter of minutes. Blood and gore and such. Yaoi, man on man, yada yada, Hope/Snow fic. I do not own any FF XIII characters!
1. Chapter 1

Hope

Disclaimer: I do not own any FFXIII characters. Trust me if I did I wouldn't besitting her writing sappy fanfiction in front of a crappy desktop computer

OK cliche as it sounds this is yaoi Snow Villiers/Hope Esthiem. With the twist of a zombie apocolypse. Yup as I said, I'm cliche. Also I made Hope 16 instead of 14 because well it's my story and damnit I want too. Snow is still 21 though.

Halloween. Wonderful time of year in Hope's opinion, tons of candy, get to dress up and see how many people will recognize you, good times. Hope was preparing his costume for the party he was invited to by his very bubbly and energetic friend Vanille. She always seemed to want to bring him to every little event she found out about about, said he was always to into his books and needed to see sunlight.

So he decided that since she says he doesn't see enough sunlight he would go with it, he was going to be a vampire. He had found an awesome set of fangs online that he could temporarily glue to his eye teeth so he could still drink and such if need be, Vanille had made his cape and had helped him find an old victorian style suit. He was in the process of doing his makeup when he heard his mother call from downstairs. "Hope honey, come down stairs. I need your help before you leave tonight."

"Be right there mom." He answered back as he sat up from where he had his face just a little to close to the bathroom mirror. He looked at himself for a minute. "You know, I look pretty good with eye liner." He quipped as he turned to leave the room.

He made his way downstairs in time to see his baby sister running around the living room trying her hardest to fly in her new fairy costume. He laughed as she clung to his leg. "HOPE!" She cried. "Throw me in the air, I wanna fly. Mom won't help me." She pouted up to him with big emerald eyes, crocodile tears already welling up in the corners.

"Ah, the big bad mom won't let you fly huh?" He asked her as he grabbed her waist and swung her up in the air, listening to her squeel in delight as he swung her around.

"Last I checked I was a mummy, not the big bad mom Hope." Nora grinned from her seat in the living room. "I see you found my makeup." She said, standing up to check his work. "Pretty handy with the eyeliner, who have you been getting lessons from huh?" She asked with a little giggle.

"I watched you do your makeup all the time growing up mom." He replied as he made his way to the kitchen to grab a drink. "What did you need?" He asked as he filled a glass with water.

"I have to run your dad his lunch at work real quick so I need you to watch Kailee for a little bit for me before you leave." She stated as she grabbed a lunch bag out of the refridgerator. "Your dad has once again forgotten his own food, he packs it then leaves it sitting on the counter when he leaves. Every morning, it never fails."

"It's because he knows you will bring it to him, and then he can see you at lunch and ask you to stay and eat with him. Same routine as always, as you said, never fails." Hope said with a smile. His dad almost lost him family because he was to absorbed in his work. The day he realized that, was the day he decided to change his ways and started having lunch with his mom again, and dinner with his family almost every night again. "I don't have to leave for a few hours, so it's fine. Go enjoy lunch with dad."

His mother smiled as she turned to grab her car keys. "Kiona is outside." She said as she picked them up. "I just put her out to go to the bathroom, so she should be ready to come back in shortly."

"All right mom. Have fun." Hope waved her off as he walked to the back glass sliding door. He opened it and gave a slight whistle. "Kiona, here girl." He called as he watched Kiona, a solid black and white pitbull came running up to the door. "Good girl." He said, scratching behind her ears. His mom got Kiona for him his first year of highschool, she says she did it to teach him more resposibility. But he knows she did it because she was sick and tired of hearing him beg for a dog.

Ding Dong.

He heard the front doorbell ring and listened as he heard kids giggling on the other side. "Coming." He hollered as he helping Kailee pick up the big bowl of candy. He went over and opened the door, looking at three kids standing on their front porch, who he assumed to be their mother standing behind them currently scloding one of them for pushing his brother out of the way to get to the door first.

"Trick or Treat." Two fo them exclaimed, holding their bag up with big smiles.

"Well look at all of you." He said, helping his little sister grab candy and fill their bags. "Frankenstein, a pirate, and I'm guessing Iron Man?" He said to the littel boy that walked away from his mother. "Here you go." He said as he dropped candy in the last bag. "Enjoy."

"Thank you." They all chorused as they turned to move onto his neighbors house. He watched as some teenagers were walking up the road, talking amongst themselves as another teen dressed as a zombie ran up behind them, pretending to attack them. Causing the girls of the group to scream and run around like crazy. He laughed as they all stopped and starting laughing at eachother. His sister laughing at the sight.

Then he saw something that wasn't right. Another person was walking towards them, dressed up as a rocker. A dead rocker from the looks of it. She had blood all over her clothes, neck, and face. Something was really off about her. She was acting like a better zombie then the guy before had. The group didn't seem to notice her at all as she walked towards them.

"Hi Hope." He was startled from his gazing as Vanille jumped into his line of sight. "Ah, did I scare you?" She asked, twirling around. She was dressed up as a princess, a very pink, and very frilly princess.

"You're bright." He said, as he moved to the side to let her in. "Kailee will definately love your costume." He said, turning to look for the girl again. She was still walking towards the group of teens, very slowly. "God, she looks creepy." He said, still watching.

"Who?" Vanille asked, moving to see where he was looking. "Eeewww." She said, looking at the rocker girl. "She went seriously overboard with the blood."

"I know. Looks like she going to try and scare those guys." He said, pointing back at the teens who were still completely oblivious. "And I think she is going to succeed."

"Oh hey look, its Julia." One of the girls said, pointing in the rocker girls direction. "I thought she said she was staying home tonight?" She said, looking at one of the guys in the group.

"Yeah, she said she wasn't feeling very good after school today." He said turning around. "Jules, are you feeling better?"

Julie just stared at them as she kept walking towards them, never waving, never replying. "Wow, Julie has gone all out this year for halloween." One said. "She looks seriously creepy and gross. She even got those milky contacts to cover her eyes. She plays a very good dead girl."

"Jules. What's wrong." The guy said again, walking towards her. He grabbed her shoulders, shaking her to snap her out of her funk.

"Hope." He was scared out of people watching again, this time by his little sister. "I'm hungry."

He looked down at her. "I will get you..." He was abruptly cut off by a loud scream, looking back up in time to see 'Julie' literally tearing the guys face off with her teeth. He fell to the ground and started flopping around. "OH MY GOD. Kailee get inside. NOW!" He said as he pushed his sister inside and slammed the door shut. He continued to watch from the peep hole of their door as hte guy who fell down kept flopping like a fish out of water all over the ground, only to stop dead still in the middle of the road. He watched as people ran around screaming, trying to get their children to safety just as the guy stood back up and started looking around before stalking towards a girl hiding by a bush across the street.

"Cliff." She cried, standing up from her hiding spot. "Cliff, are you ok?" She didn't get the chance to say anything else as he dove for her and started tearing at her throat and chest. He screaming in agony before falling to the ground in a flopping bloody heap.

"Oh my god, Hope what do we do?" He heard Vanille ask, looking at her as she watched through the window. "Should we call the police?"

He looked around, looking at her to around the room trying to find his sister. "Where's Kailee?" He asked, moving towards the couch.

"I put her in her room and turned on 'My Little Ponies'. I didn't want her to see this." She said, looking scared out of her mind. "What do we do Hope? What do we do!?"

"I don't know Vanille." He said, pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number. "Mom?" He said, sounding worried. "Mom are you there?"

"_Hope? Is everything ok? You sound worried." _Her voice said on the other line.

"Mom there is something wrong." He cried into his phone. "There are people attacking and killing people outside!"

"_What! Are you inside? Are you safe? Where is your sister, is she ok? I'll be home soon, I'll bring your dad with me!" _He heard her sound muffled while talking to who he guessed was his dad. _"Call the police and stay inside. Don't go anywhere!"_

He heard a click as she ended their call. "Hope?" Vanille asked, looking worried. "Are you all right?"

"Please tell me you're joking asking that." He bit out as he dialed 911 on his phone. "Yes, we have an emergency. Yes there are... Hello, hello are you there?" He stared dumbly at his phone as he heard nothing but faint screams. "What the hell is going on?" He asked himself as he hit the end button. "There is something very wrong here."

End chapter one. So what do you think? Be honest, first fic i've done in almost 8 years. So I know I'm rusty. R&R everyone.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: It begins.

"There is seriously something very wrong here." Hope esclaimed for, to Vanille, the thousanth time.

"Seriously Hope, I can see that. You do not have to say that there is something 'seriously wrong' every two minutes." She said, looking very frustrated. "Just calm down and lets see whats going on outside."

He nodded his head and walked towards the living room window. He cracked the curtain just in time to get a good look at a pair of dead eyes staring at him through the window. "HOLY FUCKING SHIT!" He screamed as he backed up from the window so fast he fell over the couch landing square on his head. "Ouch!"

"What is it?" Vanille asked, helping him up off of the floor. "Whats out there?"

Hope didn't get a chance to answer when he saw the door knob to the front door jiggling. "They're trying to get in." He whispered as he ran to the door as quietly as he could to lock the dead bolt. As he reached the door the person on the other side succeeded in getting it open. He came face to face with Julia. Clothes and face all bloody and torn. With her being so close he could see that her neck had been ripped out, veins and skin just hanging. "She's fucking dead!" he exclaimed as he ran forward, giving her a hard shove out the door, slamming it shut and locking it.

Vanille stared at him like he had grown a second head. "She can't be dead." She said her accent getting thicker the more scared she got. "She couldn't be walking if she were dead." She stated, giving him a very worried look.

"I'm telling you Vanille. That girl was dead. Very, very dead." He said, moving towards the kitchen to lock the slider. Just as he flipped the lock he heard shrill screaming coming from upstairs. "KAILEE!" He bolted for the staircase just in time to have his sister come running down the stairs, her fairy wings torn.

"Hope! Someone came through my window. They tried getting me to go with them!" She cried, tears spilling down her cheeks. "She said I wasn't safe here."

"Are you ok? Are you hurt?" He asked, turning his sister around looking for any injuries.

"No, but he broke my wings!" The little girl exclaimed, looking very angry at the fact. "Go get her big brother, she ruined my constume, now I can't go trick or treating!"

"Leave it to a four year old to worry about her costume over the fact that someone came into her room through her window." Vanille said, pulling Kailee into the kitchen as hope grabbed a knife. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to check it out, there is a stranger in my house and they attacked my sister. I can't just say 'hey you're in my house, welcome home' now can I?" He looked at her increduously as he ascended the stairs.

As he got closer to the top he could her deep growling. Kiona was upstairs, holding off his sisters attacker. "I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want to hurt your dog. Call her off." Someone said from the corner of the hallway. Her voice quiet.

"How do I know you're not one of them?" He asked shakily, holding the knife out in front of him.

"Because one, I'm talking to you. And two, I'm not dead on my feet trying to eat you or your dog." The voice said, sounding authorative. "Call her off."

"Kiona, come here." He called his dog, pulling her collar and holding her next to him. Ready to let go at the first sign of trouble. "Who are you? What is going on?"

She stepped out of the corner slowly. First thing he noticed was bright pink hair, and a rather large sword. "My name is Lightning kid." She said bluntly. "I came to this town to see my sister and got caught up in this crap." She explained carefully, putting her blade away behind her.

Hope had never seen that kind of blade before, he wacthed in fascination as it folded in half and she set it inside of a holster. "What kind of sword is that?"

"It's called a gunblade kid. Military issue." She answered. Something made a noise downstairs and said gunblade was back out and sitting in front of her, gleaming in the light. "Get behind me. Those creatures may be slow, but they're not stupid. I've watched them, they can open doors, break windows to get inside, I watched one even climb a tree to get up to a couple hiding on the eves of their house." She explained quietly, moving slowly down the stairs. "I saw that little girl dancing in the window, completely oblivious to what was going on so I figured I better get to her before one of them saw her."

Hope followed this lightning as she walked down the stairs, gunblade ready. "My little sister and my friend are downstairs, they're who you're hearing." He tried explaining, but to no avail, she still had her blade ready.

"Hope?" He heard Vanille call quietly. "Hope, is everything ok, are you all right?"

"You're friend isn't very smart." Lightning said. "These things can hear, they would hunt her down just cause they heard her."

"Give us a break." He looked at her with a sad look. "We have no clue about that, I just got caught up in this, same as you. We haven't been able to just sit there and observe like you have."

"I wasn't just observing for my own liking you know." They reached the bottom of the stairs, coming face to face with a scared red head, quietly holding Hope's baby sister, who was sound asleep in her arms, lond brown hair spilling over Vanille's arm. "I was doing to stay alive kid. We need to arm you two, we can't stay here."

"We can't leave." Hope said, walking towards his friends and Lightning put her blade away again. "My parents were coming back for us."

"You're parents should have been here half and hour ago Hope." Vanille said, looking his way. "Those things probably held them up. Try calling them, see if they answer."

And so he did. He pulled out his phone and dialed his moms number. _"Hope? Hope is that you?!"_ He heard his mothers frantic voice on the other line. _"Hope if you can hear me, get out of the house now."_

"Mom, mom listen to me please."

"_I don't have time Hope, we are trying to not get caught." _ She said quietly, then Hope heard another voice on the line, a mans voice.

"_Ma'am, we have to move, end that call we gotta get out of here." _He whispered to her. Hope could barely make out what he said.

"Mom, where are you?"

"_We were on the freeway when a barage of those creatures blocked the way. We were saved by a group of people with guns, shooting at them. We're in hiding. Heading towards the ocean front. Meet us there."_

His phone went silent. "They are heading towards the ocean." He said bluntly. "They want us to head there."

"Sounds like a plan, my sisters house is on the way, we'll pick her up on the way." Lightning looked around at her party. "Does your dog have a leash, she'd probably be a good watch dog, acting like she did with me those things would piss her off."

"Yeah, I'll grab it, it's upstairs." He said, moving towards the stairwell again. "How do you plan on us getting out of here?"

Lightning moved to the window to look outside, peaking through the curtains a stealthily as she could. "Well we aren't going through the front, that's for sure. And carting around that little girl will make us a bit slower then need be." She pointed out. "Do you have a basement with access outside?"

"No, just the front and back doors and how you got in upstairs apparently."

"Fuck." She hissed out, walking towards the kitchen. "Back yard is empty for the moment, but that could change at any time." She walked back into the living room. "We need to get your two armed, and we have to find a way to easily carry her." She said, pointing to Kailee.

"We have one of those running strollers my mom always uses when she goes for her runs in the morning. It has a net all around it, and a cover too." Hope said, bolting up the stairs to grab Kiona's leash.

"Will we make it out of here?" Vanille asked, looking at Lightning hopefully. "I really don't want to die."

"Who does?" Lightning asked matter of factly. "Lets find you a weapon." She said, opening doors to all the rooms on the bottom floor. She walked into one and poked her head out of the door. "In here." She called out.

"WE're not allowed in there, that's Bartholemews study, it's off limits." Vanille said, laying Kailee on the couch.

"I doubt my dads rules really matter right now." Hope stated moving to the under stair closet to get the stroller before moving into the study. "What's in here."

"Weapons." Lightning pointed out. "Old ones, but they'll work." She said, pulling a giant boomerang off of the wall. "What kind of work is your dad into anyway."

"He's supposed to be a stock broker." Hope said, taking the boomerang as Lightning handed it to him. "At least I thought so."

"Wow, look at how pretty these are!" Vanille sounded excited as she bounded around the room. "Oh, a binding rod. I read about these!" She said, giggling as she pulled it off the wall. "I can use this, I read how."

"Whatever floats your fancy." Lightning shrugged as she grabbed a couple more weapons. I large bladed staff and a bow with a quiver of arrows. "Let's get your sister loaded up and get out of here." She said, moving back out into the living room. "WE need to hurry before they climb your fence, or your house."

Hope nodded as he strapped his still sleeping sister into her stroller as he watch Vanille throw all sorts of food and drink into his backpack. "OK, I got everything that isn't perishable, and I remember a can opener." She bubbled, walking up to them.

"Good thinking, way to be on your toes." Lightning said, walking towards her, but stopped the second she heard glass shatter upstairs. "Move in the kitchen now, we need to get out of here!" She whispered hastily, ushering them to the back door just as someone fell down the stairs.

Hope turned to look and once again saw Julia in his house, her dead eyes trained on him. "Shit."

To be continued.

Wilhelm Wigworhty: I have been debating this story for a long time. I just didn't know how to start it up. The halloween thing just hit me, cause honestly, who's gonna be expecting a real zombie on the day when so many people dress up as one. Thanks for reading, you're awesome.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Move out

Still a reminder, I do not own any characters of square enix. So far the only characters that are mine are Kailee, and all the zombified teens. Enjoy.

Hope was almost face to face with 'Julia', having tripped over the living room rug in his rish to get to the kitchen. He stared at the bloody crumpled heap of person that was sitting in front of him. Milky white, dead eyes stared at him as she made a gurgling sound, contorting her body to get back up. "Hope! Get up you idiot!" He heard Vanille scream as he watched Julia slowly inch up, broken bones cracking and popping as she moved.

He stared in horror as she kept moving, the sickening sounds her body made making him want to throw up right there. "Get down!" He heard as Lightning jumped over his head, slicing her gunblade down at Julia, effectivaly cutting her midsection in half. He watched in horror as she didn't go down, but kept moving for them. "What the hell!" He heard lightning cry as she swung again, slicing at her neck.

"I think I'm going to be sick." He exclaimed, watching Julia's head roll across the floor towards him, eyes still staring and jaw still moving. "She's still alive!" He cried, scrambling up from his spot on the floor to get away from her head.

Lightning stared for a minute, utterly flabbergasted at how the head was still alive, eyes roaming, looking around at everyone. She couldn't stand those eyes, so dead, so gone. She couldn't help it, she swung her sword down at those horrible eyes, stabbing her gunblade through Julia's head. Effectively killing her once and for all. "She's dead now."

"She was dead beforehand." She heard Vanille comment, throwing a dish towel over the masacered head. "We better move, who knows how many more there are."

"Right." Lightning replied, moving towards the back door. "It's still clear for the moment. Let's move."

They all gathered together and moved slowly out of the back door, eyes looking all around for anything that could attack them. Hope was thankful Kailee stayed asleep through all that had just happened. He didn't know how he was going to explain that some weird lady just killed someone in their home. "Which way do you think we need to go to get the ocean front?" Hope asked, watching Lightning closely.

"We head East from here." Lightning informed, keeping her voice quiet as she came up to the fence gate, pearing over in. "But it's going to be a long trip with all the creatures skulking around." She pointed out, watching four different 'creatures' walk around the road, looking for anyone they could see except each other.

"They're not creatures, they're human. Well they were human, at one point." Hope said, eyes downcast.

"Well they aren't now. They are killers, flesh eating killers." Lightning interjected, cutting him off. "They will not hesitate to kill you. They are no longer human."

"We need to move, before we are seen." Vanille put in quietlly. "I really don't want to see another decapitation today please."

"We may not be able to get away with that." Lightning said, turning to give her a stern look. "It's killed or be killed, you will learn that fast."

"Let's just go. No point in standing here arguing with each other when we should be moving." Hope said, quietly opening the gate, leading Kiona and himself out into the open, boomerang in hand. He wasn't sure how a boomerang was going to help him, but he felt comfortable with it. He stopped when he saw someone walking slowly in front of him. 'Think Hope, think.' He thought to himself. 'It took completely destroying the brain to stop that last one. So it looks like that's what has to happen now.' He looked down at his boomerang, moving it slightly to feel its weight. 'God, this whole moment is reminding me of a cheesy horror movie. I'm stuck in someones stupid zombie apocolypse movie. They suck.' He pouted to himself, watching as the 'creature' as Lightning so elegantly put it, kept moving away.

"Are you just going to stand there and become dinner or move?" He heard a harsh whisper from behind him, a look of sheer irritation on Lightnings face. "Move out." She said bluntly, walking forward, quite literally cutting the top of the 'creatures' head off in one swipe. He watched as it dropped to the ground. "Aim for the heads, that seems to be the only way to stop them."

"They're walking around, but they're dead?" Vanille asked as she pushed the stroller holding his sleeping sister. The rod that she was so excited about sitting on top of it, ready to be used at any moment. "So they're walking dead?"

"God, now I know we are stuck in someones cheap horror flick, or some sick twisted joke." Hope whined, looking around making sure nothing snuck up on them.

"Well, if this is someones version of a horror movie or joke, it most definitely is not a 'cheap' one." Lightning announced as she took out another 'creature'. "If this were a movie, they would have stopped me when I killed their precious little actress back there."

"Yeah, you're right. I person can hope though right?" He asked, looking up at her.

"Ha, Hope is hoping. Isn't that classic." She snorted out. "Look a car, maybe we don't have to make this journey on foot." She ran up to the vehicle, Hope realizing it was a minivan, his neighbors minivan.

"Careful, Mrs. Ross doesn't like her van messed with." Hope said, only to think about how to stupid he just sounded. Her minivan was probaly the last thing on that womans mind. Her daughters were, if any of them were still alive. "Nevermind."

Vanille looked around curiously as Lightning checked the van for anything that could jump out at them. Deeming the vehicle clear she started searching for the keys. "So Hope, you know who this belongs to, do you know where she keeps the keys?"

"In the visor." He stated, still watching the road.

"Seriously, I was being sarcastic."

"She gave me rides to school a lot, even gave me driving lessons." He answered defensively.

Lightning shrugged as moved the visor, keys dropping into her awaiting hand. "Get in." She said, pushing a buttong to open the passenger sliding door. "And hurry, we just caught someones attention." She said, watching as a group of 'creatures' came walking towards the van slowly.

Vanille grabbed the stroller and threw it in the back after Hope pulled his sister out a nestled her into a car seat. Soothing her to go back to sleep in her half awake daze. Getting Kiona in the car Vanille shut the door. "Ready."

"Good." Lightning said, turning the key in the ignition, only to have the car crank but not start. "Are you fucking kidding me!" She said, slamming a fist into the steering wheel.

"Hold the pedal to the floor." Hope put in, watching the van roar to life as she turned the key again, following his advice.

"Thank you. Hold on." She said, throwing the van in reverse to get away from the monsters that were almost up on the hood by this point.

By that point Kailee was pretty much awake, searching her surroundings. "Hope, where are we?" She asked him, grabbing at the buckled of the seat she was in, trying to strap herself in.

"We are just going for a ride." Hope said calmly as he could, trying to upset her. "We are going to the beach."

"The beach!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Did you remeber my swim suit?"

"I don't think you'll be needing it Kai, just don't worry about it ok."

"But I can't swim without it Hope." She whined out. "My costume will get all wet."

"Oh what joys of being a clueless, ignorant child again." He heard Lightning say from the drivers seat. "Must be nice to be so oblivious."

"Hey, she's four years old, give her a break for crying out loud." He said angrily. Come on, she's still his baby sister, she doesn't have to have a clue right now about what's going on. "Just leave her alone."

"I was just saying how nice it would be to think that everything is all peachy is all." She said before focusing back on the road. She slowed down a bit, eyeing something that caught her interest. "Well, well, someone can hold their own." She said, getting the others attention.

"What?" Vanille asked pearing out the window. "Fang?" She screamed out as watched a tall woman in blue fight against two creatures with a large screwdriver. "We have to help her." Vanille cried as she grabbed her rod, jumping out of the van before anyone could protest.

"Hope, get up here and drive this, keeping it moving so nothing can try to get in." Lightning said flatly, putting the van in park and getting out.

Hope got in the drivers seat and did as he was told. "What happening Hope?" He heard is little sister ask.

"Just picking up a friend." He answered quietly, driving in circle.

"Aim for their heads." Vanille hollered as she ran towards Fang. "That's the only way to kill them."

"Vanille?" She heard the womans thick accent, filling with happiness. "You're alive." She said, pushing one of them away from her.

"Yup." Vanille said, swinging the rod out in front of, fascinated as wires came whizzing out of the end and wrapping around one of the creatures. She gave a hard tug, pulling it to the ground. Using the end of her rod she started hammering away at its head. After a minute she looked as it stopped moving all together. 'I did it?' She kept watching. 'I DID IT!' Her mind screamed as she watch lightning slice the head off of the other one.

"Let's go, before we attract more." Lightning stated moving towards the van. "Load up." She said, halting Hope and having him open the door.

Everyone climbed inside and settled into seats, after a moment Fang caught Vanille in a big hug. "I thought you were gone. You weren't home when I got off of work and those things were everywhere." Fang said, still not letting go.

"I was with Hope when all of this started." Vanille told her, hands in her lap. "Lightning, that lady in front, saved us."

"Thank you." Fang said to Lightning, getting a brief nod in return.

"Here," lightning said, slightly lifting up the bladed staff off of the floor so Fang could see. "You may need something a little better than that screwdriver."

Vanille giggled. "Hey, I was holding my own pretty well with that screwdriver, thank you." Fang defended, but accepted the staff anyway.

"Yes you were." Lightning nodded, turning her head towards Hope, who was still driving. "Do you know how to get to the ocean front from here?" She asked him.

"Vaguely, shouldn't be a problem." He nodded to her.

"Hope!" His sister whined from the back. "I'm hungry."

Even in that moment of turmoil, everyone laughed at the cute pouty face of the little green eyed brunette.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Turmoil

To the ended up with, I love you, you are fabulous. Please R&R. They are so much fun to respond too.

Vanille set about to making sandwiches for everyone. Hope grinned as he heard his little sister gripe to her about how she likes the way her mommy does it, that she makes them better than her. "Oh come on Kailee, it's peanut butter and jelly, there isn't a whole lot I can do to improve this." Vanille sighed, trying to hand Kailee the sandwich, only to get glared at.

"Uh uh." Kailee shook her head. "Mommy cuts off the crust and she makes them into cute circles. You didn't do that!" Kailee yelled, pushing the sandwich away again.

"Hope." Vanille whined. "Help me."

Hope couldn't help but think about how pitiful Vanille looked at that moment." I think we finally found someone who is more stubborn then you Vanille." He smirked as she pouted. "Kailee, mommy will make your next one ok. We can't cut that one up without a knife."

"She has a knife in her hand Hope." His sister pointed out, pointing at said butter knife Vanille had used. "She can do it."

"Not without a hard surface to cut it on." He said, looking at her from the rearview mirror. "It'll look to funny. Just eat it that way ok?"

"Fine." She pouted, crossing her arms. "But I won't like it." She said bluntly, taking the offered sandwich and taking a bite.

"Little things got some spice to her doesn't she?" Hope heard Fang ask from the back of the van. "Quite spirited."

Hope smiled at her in the mirror. "Don't know hwere she got it from either. Mom is quiet and peaceful and dad, well dad is just dad." He muttered at the end, turning his eyes back to the road as he listened to Fang and Vanille strike up their own conversation.

"Don't look so hopeless." He heard Lightning say to him, looking him up and down. "You're alive and so is your sister, be happy."

"I am, I was just thinking."

Lightning shrugged her shoulder turning her view back out the front window. "Thinking gets you nowhere, actions do."

Hope shook his head as he looked around. "Actions only get you so far until you have to think about where those actions can and will lead you." He replied. "I was just thinking about how normal the city looks." He said, motioning outside. "I haven't seen one of those creatures since we picked Fang up, everything looks so eerily peaceful and quiet. Like nothing is here." He explained. "I was expecting the sight that you see in movies. Everything on fire, people running and screaming, trying to hide from the bad guys. Havoc everywhere, everyone rebeling and fighting. It's almost like what happened just two hours ago didn't happen at all."

"Maybe whatever it is hasn't reached this far into the city." Fang interjected from the back. "Maybe it started on the outskirts of town and hasn't spread this far."

"Maybe." Lightning said, keeping an eye out. "Turn left up here."

"What?" Hope looked up at her. "That way doesn't lead to the ocean."

"Just do it. I want to see something." She said, looking out her window. "Make the left then the imediate right."

Hope complied, following her directions. She made a few more before her pulled up in front of an apartment complex. "Where are we?"

"My sisters." She said plainly. "Keep the engine running, if anything happens keep moving like I had you do when we picked Fang up." She said, getting out of the van. "Do not hesitate to kill something that isn't human anymore."

He nodded, watching as she turned and went up into the apartments, sword at the ready. He waited as patienty as he could for roughly about ten minutes before Lightning came running back out of the building, a young girl with pink hair following close behind her. "Looks like she found who she was looking for." Fang said, watching closely as they jumped in the van.

"Drive now." Lightning said, slamming the door shut. "Hurry before they wake up."

Hope did as he was told, driving away and making turns to get back on the main highway. "Before who wakes up?"

"Those things." The young girl that lightning picked up answered. "They were attacking everyone in my building. And then, almost instantly, just stopped. Just stood there. Not moving." She explained.

"And you are?" Fang inquired.

"Oh sorry. I'm Serah. Claires sister."

"Who's Claire?" Vanille asked, looking around. "We don't have a Claire."

"I'm Claire." Lightning put in, looking irritated. "And no, do not call me that. My name is Lightning."

Everyone just stared for a minute before Hope turned his attention back to Serah. "You said they just stopped?"

"Yeah. " She said, looking at him. "It was really weird. Well, this whole day is weird, but still. Everyone they attacked turned into one of them. Almost instantly. Then they would go after anyone unaffected. I ran to my apartment as fast as I could dodging everyone that I could. And as one was about to attack me, he had me shoved on the floor and was going to bite me. Litterally bite me." She yelled, flailing her arms about. "He just stopped." She put her arms down. "He just stood up and stayed there, unmoving. Eyes shut."

Hope sat there quietly, thinking about what he'd just been told. "Almost like they went to sleep?"

"Yeah." She said, scooting to the edge of her seat. "Or well, like putting a computer into sleep mode. It was instant."

"How long ago was that?" lightning asked, turning to look at her sister. "Can you give me a rough time frame.

"Um, about an hour or so I guess. I bolted into my apartment and locked the door."

"When I went in everyone I saw was like that." Lightning said, looking out the window. "Like in a forced hibernation state."

"That's why the streets are so empty." Fang pointed out. "Thos things are all asleep. That's why it's so quiet."

"Yeah, but how long will that last." Hope asked, looking at the clock in the van. "It's almost 7:30 now, and if they've been asleep for at least an hour, then we have a time frame to look at if we see them moving around again I guess."

"Good thinking." Lightning said. "And it's dusk right now, the sun will be setting soon, so it'll be harder to see anything. So everyone needs to stay on their toes."

"Look!" Vanille cheered jumping up to point out the window. "The oceanfront bridge, we're almost there."

"Good." Hope muttered, pressing a little more on the gas pedal. "Looks like we'll be there in about ten minutes."

Everyone got quiet as they raced down the empty streets towards the bridge. AS they got closer they noticed cars parked haphazardly all over the place. Hope has to slow down to start weaving inbetween them. "Look, there's one." Lightning said, pointing towards a person, covered in blood, standing still by a vehicle, completely unmoving. "Looks like they're still asleep."

Hope looked at the creature before having to slam on the breaks. "Looks like the end of the road." He muttered, looking at a pile of cars in front of them, barely enough rooms between all of them for two people to slip through at a time.

"Vanille, I put you in charge of the child. You keep her safe in that stroller, and keep her quiet. Everyone else, arm yourselves, grab whatever we need. It's a short walk to the bridge, so be prepared." Lightning said, turning to look at everyone. She tossed the bow and arrows she got from Hope's house at her sister. "Hope you're a fast learner Serah. Those things aren't easy."

"I'll try." Serah replied, fiddling with an arrow.

"Hope, You'll take point with me. Bring the dog, she may alert us to anything ahead."

"Ok." He said, grabbing Kiona's leash.

"Fang, can you cover our tail?" Lightning asked, looking at the woman in blue.

"Can Hope drive a car?" Was her reply as she held her staff. "Let's do this, while those things are still out of the game."

Everyone nodded and piled out of the van. Hope and Lightning in front, Vanille and Kailee behind them, Serah right after, and Fang bringing up the rear. "Move slow and steady. Try not to make any undue noise." Lightning said, walking slowly, scanning the area. "Don't touch any of the cars if you can help it, just in case one of those things are inside."

They moved quietly and quickly, weaving in and out of cars, keeping an eye on every creature they saw, glad they were still 'asleep'. Hope quietly kept count of how many they saw as they got closer to the bridge. '67, 68, 72' He kept counting, looking for the ones that were bunched together. 'They're everywhere.' He thought, looking around. '98, 99,' He shook his head. 'We're almost there, just have to keep moving.'

"STOP!" They heard a shout from in front of them. "Stop, or I will fire." Everyone stopped their walking, only to stare ahead at a shadowy figure ahead of them. "Are you human?"

"Pretty sure." Lightning quipped, hand on her hip. "At least last I checked." She said.

Hope look up at the sky and noted the sun was setting behind a far mountain. "The sun is going down Lightning, what do we do?"

"Let me handle this."

"How many are in your party." The stranger asked.

"Six." Lightning replied. "Five adults and one child."

"How old is the child?"

"Four." Hope replied.

The stranger got quiet, holding his ear. He slowly stepped out of the shadows. First thing he noticed was bright blue hair. "Move towards me slowly. No funny business. I need to check if you're infected before I can let you pass."

"Can we trust this guy?" Hope heard Fang ask.

"Do we have a choice?" Was lightnings response, taking a couple of steps. "Just keep your guard up.

To be continued:


End file.
